Support arrangement for mobile track tamping machines



Oct. 6, 1964 F. PLASSER ETAL 3,151,570

SUPPORT ARRANGEMENT FOR MOBILE TRACK TAMPING MACHINES Filed Feb. 13, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORJ Yam/z PLK9E5 BY 30%? 'Ev ER 1964 F. PLASSER ETAL 3,151,570

SUPPQRT ARRANGEMENT FOR MOBILE TRACK TAMPING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 15, 1961 1 INVENTORS Fmvz PL 65E? J05 5? United States Patent 3,151,570 SUPEORT ARRANGEMENT FQR MGBILE TRACK TAIVTlNG MACHTNKES Franz Plasser and Josef Theater, both of Johannesgasse 3, Vienna, Austria Filed Feb. 13, 1961, Ser. No. 89,652 Claims priority, application Austria, Feb. 16, $66, A 1,202/68 1 Claim. (Cl. 104-12) This invention relates to mobile tracl: tamping machines, and is more particularly concerned with stable support arrangements for the working parts of a Wheeled track tamping machine.

Track tamping machines may be equipped not only with track tamping tools but also with jacks or other power-operated devices for raising or shifting the track to adjust its position to a desired level. The adjusted position is then fixed by tamping ballast under the track and more specifically under the crossties which support the rails.

Such tamping machines may also be provided with means for establishing the desired level of the track with reference to a line of sight the position of which relative to a fixed element of the tamping machine provides a measure of the extent to which a track section needs to be raised or otherwise shifted. Once the position of a line of sight or similarly established reference line relative to the tamping machine is found, the machine itself provides a reference point. This holds particularly in those tamping machines in which the tamping tools and track lifting devices are mounted on a portion or" the machine which overhangs the wheels in a forward direction. The machine thus may stand on a track section the level of which has been previously adjusted while the track section to be adjusted is within the range of the tamping tools and track lifting devices. The vertical distance between the machine and the unadjusted track section is a measure of the required grade adjustment.

The use of the tamping machine itself as a reference base is predicated on the assumption that the distance between the adjusted track section on which the machine rests and the working elements of the machine is fixed. This assumption is not entirely valid in modern track tamping machines in which resilient elements such as sprin s are interposed between the machine frame and the axles, trucks or undercarriages on which the wheels are mounted. Although these springs must be heavy to support the weight of the machine, they yield sufficiently under the additional forces imposed on them during operation of a tamping machine to significantly alter the vertical spacing between the machine frame and the track on which it is supported. It would not be practical to eliminate springs and to support the tamping machine frame directly on the axles of the wheels because of the requirement that the tamping machines be capable of tra cling over large distances at normal train speeds and as members of ordinary railroad trains. The heavy mass of the machine would endanger the safety of the train and may damage the tracks on which it runs unless it were damped by a spring support.

It is the primary object of the invention to increase the precision of track lifting equipment on tamping machines of the type disclosed.

A further object is the provision of support arrangements for track tamping machines, which combine the advantages of rigidly mounted machine frames with respect to the precision of a track lifting operation with the advantages of a spring suspension of the machine for travel.

invention utilizes a resilient member interposed between the frame of the machine and an axle. This member resiliently transmits downwardly directed forces, such as gravitational forces, from the frame to the axle. The invention also provides rigid means mounted between the frame and the axle for selectively maintaining the axle and t e frame in fixed vertically spaced relationship, thereby inactivating the resilient force transmitting member.

Other fe tures of the invention will become apparent to those siilled in the art as the disclosure is made in the following detailed description of preferred embodiments of the invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a sectional, front elevational, fragmentary View of a track tamping machine equipped with a first embodiment of a support arrangement of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the support arrangement of the invention in a side elevational view including only those portions of the track tamping machine which are directly connected to the support arrangement; and

FIG. 3 shows the front end of a track tamping macl me which may be provided with either one of the embodiments of a support arrangement shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the View being in side elevation, and partly in section.

Referring now to the drawing in detail, and initially to FIG. 1, the working elements of the track tamping machine are represented only by a member of the frame 1 on which the other parts of the machine are mounted. The frame 1 is supported on an axle 2 which carries two conventional railroad wheels 3. For the sake of clarity, only a single member of the frame 1 has been illustrated but it will be appreciated that the axle 2 may be connected to as many elements of the frame as may be considered advisable.

A heavy tubular rubber cushion 4 is interposed be tween a bearing sleeve 2 supported on the axle 2 and the frame 1, the central cavity of the cushion extending vertically upwardly from the axle 2. A threaded sleeve 5 is mounted on the frame 1 coaxially with the cavity of the cushion 4 and is threadedly engaged by a spindle 6 the upper end of which carries a handwheel 7. The pitch or" the threads connecting the sleeve 5 with the spindle s is suitably selected to prevent spontaneous rotation of the spindle under the weight of the machine.

As shown in FIG. 3, the tamping machine is arranged for travel over the tracks. The bulk of the machine rests on the frame 1 and is thus resiliently supported on the axle 2 and the wheels 3:. During operation of the machine, the resiliency of the cushion would introduce an undesirable element of uncertainy into the spaced relationship of the machine frame 1 and the tracks on which the wheels 3 are supported. The handwheel 7 is then turned until the frontal face of the spindle 6 rests on the bearing sleeve 2' so that the weight of the machine and other downwardly acting forces are transmitted to the axle by the spindle 6 and the cushion 4 is inactivated. The threaded engagement of the sleeve 5 with the spindle 6 permits vertical adjustment of the machine franc to a desired level.

It will be appreciated that the rubber cushion 4 may be replaced by a heavy spiral spring, one or more pneumatic springs, or any other resilient element without departing from the spirit of this invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of the support arrangement of the invention in which leaf springs are interposed between the machine frame 1 and the axle 2. As seen in a side-elevational view in FIG. 2, the machine frame 1 is equipped with spring brackets 8 between which a leaf spring ill is mounted. The spring passes through bearing block 2" which has a horizontal bore vertically aligned with the axis of the wheel 3 and is mounted on axle 2 to provide a resilient support of machine frame 1 on the axle. A projection 1 downwardly extending from the frame 1 toward the wheel 3 overlaps the block 2" and has a bore which may be horizontally aligned with the bore in the block 2". When a pin 9 is inserted into the two aligned bores, the vertical spacing between the frame 1 and of the axle 2 is fixed thereby also maintaining a fixed spacing between the frame or any element rigidly supported thereon and the track or rail 17 on which the wheel 3 rolls.

In the condition illustrated in FIG. 2, the support arrangement is rigid, as would be desirable during the tamping operation, and permissible during the short movements from one crosstie to the next as the machine pro ceeds along the track tamping the ballast under each crosstie in succession. When the pin 9 is withdrawn, the weight of the frame 1 is transmitted to the axle 2 by the leaf spring ill, and the machine is ready for travel.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of a track tamping machine equipped with one of the support arrangements of FIGS. 1 and 2. Only the front end of the frame 1 and associated elements are shown, the remainder of the machine, which is conventional, not being relevant to the present discussion.

The front wheels 3 of which only one is visible, and the rear wheels of the machine, not shown in the drawing, rest on a portion of the track 17 the level of which has'been adjusted during the progress of the machine from the right toward the left, as viewed in FlG. 3. The

track element vertically aligned with the overhanging frame portion is being graded.

A tamping tool carrier 12 is vertically slidable on the frame 1 and carries two tamping tools to compact the ballast 11 under each tie 18. An oscillatory movement of the tamping tools is actuated by a rotary eccenter 13 and transmitted to the tools 15 by arms 14. The tools are gradually moved toward each other by a hydraulic motor 16. Prior to tamping of the ballast, a' section'of the rail 17 is raised to a desiredheight by a jack arrangement mounted on the frame 1. The jack arrangement includes a cylinder 19 fixed on the front wall of the machine, a piston 20 vertically slidable in the cylinder 19 under the influence of hydraulic fluid, a piston rod 21 fastened to the piston 20 and downwardly projecting from the cylinder 19, and a gripping claw 22 attached to the piston rod and adapted :to be clamped on the rail 17.

The height over which the rail section has to be lifted, and thus the stroke of the piston 26, is determined by a gauge which in the present instance is a measuring rod 24 which is vertically slidable in the frame 1. The bottom end of the rod 24 rests on the rail portion which is being adjusted, and the top end of the rod 24 serves as an indicator cooperating with an index mark 25 on the machine frame 1.

The necessary stroke of the piston 29 may thus be initially read from the spacing of the top end of the rod 24 from the index mark 25, and the progress of the lifting operation may be judged from the movement of the rod relative to the mark 25.

The indication obtained will be precise only when the justed portion of the rail 17 is not changed during the lifting operation as will be ensured by the support arrangements illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 when their resilient components are inactivated. If that is not done, the increased downward forces exerted by the frame 1 on the axle 2 due to the resistance of the track section which is being lifted compress the resilient rubber cushion 4 or the leaf spring 10 and introduce an element of error in the indication of the rod 24.

With the support arrangement of. theinvention, it is possible to establish once only the relative position of the machine frame 1 and of a sighting line or any other reference line which defines a desired track course, and henceforth to rely on reference marks on the tamping machine itself for determining the data needed for proper track adjusting operation. It is not necessary that repeated sightings be made from the track itself to a fixed reference point or reference line.- The support arrangement of the invention thereby appreciably reduces the effort and time required in the track adjustment.

Various modifications are contemplated and may obviously be resorted to by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claim, as only preferred embodiments thereof have been disclosed. a

What is claimed is:

In a track tamping machine, in combination: an axle member; wheel means mounted on said axle member for rolling contact with a track in a substantially horizontal plane tangential to said wheel means; a machine frame supported by said axle member; resilient means interposed between said frame and said axle member for resiliently transmitting downwardly directed forces. from said frame to said axle member; rigid means mounted spatial relationship between the mark 25 and the ad between said frame and said axle member for selectively maintaining said axle member and said frame in fixed verticallyspaced relationship and for inactivating the re- 1 silient means; track lifting means on said frame; oscillatory tamping tools on said frame and indicating means on said frame for indicating the vertical spacing of said plane from said frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Amey a June 25, 1907 857,572 1,046,262 Caiferty et al, Dec. 3, 1912 1,310,386 Schneider July 22, 1919 340,416 Schneider May 18, 1920 1,975,119 Oates Oct. 2, 1934 2,020,489 Walker et al. Nov. 12, 1935 2,140,421 Fageol Dec. 13, 1938 2,662,780 Talbert Dec. 15, 1953 2,735,692 Vogt Feb. 21,1956 2,996,016 Keller Aug. 15, 1961 2,997,342 Talbert Aug. 22, 1961 3,071,082 Talboys Jan. 1, 1963 FOREIGN PATENTS 638,113 France Feb. 14, 1928 318,645 Germany Feb. 7, 1920 1,101,976 Germany Mar. 9, 1961 291,837 Great Britain June 5, 1928 

